In the first post at Football Perspective, I noted that A.J. Green became the first player in over 25 years to be the first wide receiver drafted and then lead all rookies in receiving yards during his rookie season. It’s a good thing that Green has a knack for bucking trends, because he’s going to want to do it again.

The research showed that for the period between 1981 and 2000, the top rookie receiver almost never ended up as the top wideout from his class. Doug was correct in speculating that because of that track record, Chambers was a bad bet to end up being the best receiver among all 2001 rookies, despite Chambers having had the best rookie year.

Here’s a look at the top rookie receivers from 2001 based on receiving yards, along with three other notable wideouts:

So, has that trend held up? For the most part, the answer is yes. Below are the top rookie1 receivers in terms of receiving yards. But for each season, on the right side of the table, I’ve listed the career leaders in receiving yards among wideouts that were rookies that season:

A.J. Green bucked the odds by being the top receiver last year. We'll see if he can do it again.

It’s a bit early to grade the last three classes. But from 1978 to 2008, only three wide receivers — Randy Moss, Cris Collinsworth and Art Monk — ended up having both the best rookie season and the best career among the wideouts from their respective classes. The median rank was fourth, which isn’t bad, but would be significantly disappointing for Bengals fans. A Darnay Scott or Chris Chambers career path is certainly not what Cincinnati fans are expecting. And that’s just the median, as over a third of the receivers ended up ranking outside of the top five from their class.

Conversely, if we look at those wide receivers who ended up having the best careers from their class, the median rank during their rookie season was fifth, as was the case for Derrick Mason or Laveranues Coles.

Green looks to be the next superstar wide receiver in the league. My friend and football analyst Matt Waldman loves Green’s skillset, and I agree that he looks to be the real deal. That will just makes him even more unique if he ends up having the career many expect: Jim Benton is the only player in NFL history to be the highest drafted wide receiver, lead his rookie class in receiving yards, and then finish with the most career receiving yards among wideouts from his class. Benton was drafted in 1938.